


Keeping mum

by riddler1



Category: Silent Witness (TV)
Genre: F/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 15:09:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9908141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riddler1/pseuds/riddler1
Summary: The conclusion to the keeping mum story.





	

Keeping mum by Ridler1 

Chapter two.  
Although Harry is desperate to spend time with his child Nikki, Leo and his mum suggest that he has the day off on the first day of his holiday. Leave Fee with childcare as normal and have some quiet time. He had whimpered that he was fine but when all three of them turned up at the flat in the afternoon Anne had to let them in and found Harry fast asleep in his bed. They left him there. 

Anne picked up the laundry basket and took it with her downstairs. Leo who wanted to use the loo picked up all the toys from the bath, sink and floor and put them in the hanger over the bath. He even scanned the bathroom cabinet once mastering the child safety latch to see if Harry needed anything. Nikki was in the kitchen at the ironing board ironing Harry’s shirts and folding Fees stuff. After putting a load on Anne was writing a list for shopping in which Leo added his list to. There was a knock at the door, it was the neighbour returning Fee. They smiled at her and thanked her immensely for all that she had done. Ann grabbed the baby seat and told the others she’d get the shopping and something to eat for them all tonight. Give her half an hour and then wake up her sleepy bones of a son. Leo took over the ironing and loaded the next lot of washing whilst Nikki disappeared upstairs. She ran a bath and then went into Harry’s room. He hadn’t moved an inch. She went to lie next to him and put her hand on the side of his face.  
“Harry darling time to get up. Mums cooking dinner later and Fee needs to see her dad…”  
“Ermmm, need a shower, need a………………”  
“I’ve run you a bath.”  
“Mmmmm good. Think I need to get up now.”  
“Yes you should.”  
“Nikki you need to go now.”  
“Sorry.”   
“Nikki I don’t wear pyjamas in bed.”  
“I’ll go then. I’ll meet you downstairs.”  
When she got downstairs Leo was talking at her but she wasn’t listening, too busy thinking that if she had realised Harry was naked under the sheets that she might have a proper look at the linen as it fell in and around the contours of his body. The chemistry between the two of them had always been heated but seeing Harry as a single dad made him sexier and the fact that he was a more vulnerable beast these days made her more emotionally attracted to him. It was her time to save him.

Harry joined his extended family in the dining room. Anne had cooked pork chops, new potatoes and spinach and something for Fee. Fee sat on her dads hips as they talked and laughed for a few hours more. Anne had bought a chocolate cake, it turns out Fee had her father’s sweet tooth. Harry was trying to feed her and only seemed to be getting himself covered in the stuff, more so than she was. Anne left as she had to be somewhere in the morning and Leo left when his new girlfriend came to pick him up. Nikki was the only one to remain. Harry put Fee to bed and then came down to the kitchen to find Nikki tidying up.   
“Nikki leave it, I’ll do it in a minute. You’ve done enough.”  
“Its fine, I don’t mind.” Nikki laughed as Harry shoved stuff in the dishwasher and saw a trace of chocolate cake in his hair. She leant over to pick it out.   
“What now?” Harry asked  
“Cake.”  
“Oh” he swatted his head “could be worse, have had worse. They’re not lying when they say children are messy. The laundry basket never stays empty for long.”  
“We noticed.”  
“I thought I was coping with it all but maybe I’m not.”  
“You’re doing amazingly well Harry, especially under the circumstances……..Harry her mum who is she?”  
“I thought you knew everything.”  
“No, just that you had been sent a daughter, we didn’t think a stalk had dropped it off but no, no details.” Harry took a deep breath and looked Nikki in the eye.   
“Sophie Connelly, soon to be Cunningham. Sophie was the result of the worse decision I have ever made in my life. The only other women I have ever loved and she turned out to be……………………….”  
“Harry I know she used you, a bad time then but the way you look at Sophie, would you wish for anything else?”  
“No I don’t think I would.”  
“So let’s not dwell on it then. Rebecca where is she now?”  
“I’m thinking burning in hell for all I care.”  
“Oh…tell me that’s not what you’re going to tell Sophie when she’s old enough to ask about her mum.” It had been a hard time for Harry, mum mentioning schooling and now the prospect of a teenage Sophie asking him about her mother. The emotion hit him like a train, his breath caught in his chest and he began to feel very sick. Harry pushed passed Nikki and ran up the stairs to the bathroom where he proceeded to be sick in the basin of the toilet.

“Harry are you alright?” Harry looked at her, he was pale and tears were streaming down his cheeks. Nikki grabbed his head and held it against her stomach. Once he stopped shaking Nikki got him up to his feet and dragged him out to the hall way. Harry took her arms from his and checked in on Fee then came to join Nikki back in the hallway. Nikki led him to his bed and undressed him and tucked him under the duvet, wrapping him up tight. Nikki lay next to him.  
“This is the scariest thing I’ve ever done.” Harry whispered  
“And you’re doing very well, Harry you’re a wonderful friend, an amazing father, we are all lucky to have you in our lives…..but you have to promise me you’ll ask for help, anytime anyplace for any reason.”  
“Thank you”  
“No problem……..did you really fall in love with Rebecca?”  
“Yes I think so, only felt that way about one other women.”  
“Penny?”  
Harry sleepily rolled over and hung an arm around Nikki’s hips “No, you.”  
Nikki looked into nothingness but before she had time to form a thought Harry was asleep.

How on earth did Harry manage it? Nikki was up before Harry and had decided to tackle the dishwasher, then she heard Fee stir, then cry, after feeding her, changing her and trying out every cuddly toy Harry had she had finally settled on the rug on the living room floor playing with a toy plane of all things. She took a swig from her mug then spat it out as it was a few degrees above undrinkable. She emptied the dishwasher, then the washing machine, then the phone rang, then the laptop sang yahooooo and then there was an alarm telling her something what she had no bloody idea. Then the doorbell rang and she wondered how Harry wasn’t on a bottle of vodka a day. She was actually spinning around on her feet wondering what to tackle first. Harry picked up the phone and was speaking down the line as he took it with him to answer the door. He signed for the parcel and continued talking to Leo with the phone squashed between his ear and his shoulder he picked up Fee and took the magazine which she was currently tearing to shreds ready to eat it for breakfast. He finished the call with Leo then as Fee decided to put her hands in daddy’s mouth he went to the laptop and checked his email and then he turned to the oven and switched off the alarm.  
“You alright Nikki?”  
“Harry how do you do it?”  
“Practice” Fee was now poking her fingers in daddy’s ears and generally playing with Harrys face. He opened his parcel whilst nodding at the kettle suggesting Nikki fill it up and put it on. He took out the books from the jiffy bag sleeve then walked over to the top of the fridge-freezer and reached up and took a glass case from the top. Harry opened them and placed the black rimmed glasses on and walked over to the sofa opening the first book, he sat down and started to read to his daughter. Nikki came over with two mugs of coffee. The scene was so perfect, Nikki was flustered as she watched a spectacled Harry read to Fee as Fee played with his features. Nikki sipped her coffee and realised Harry hadn’t touched his.   
“Harry your coffee.”  
“Mm yes, let me finish the page” Harry read on. He put Fee on the floor before reaching over to get his coffee. He drank it down in one go. Sighed then rested his head on the back of the sofa before pushing his glasses on top of his head. He rubbed his eyes. He looked at Nikki.  
“Leo wants to know if you are going to be at work anytime soon.”  
“Shit.”  
“Nikki not in front of Fee.”  
“What is the time?”   
“No idea but if the alarm on the oven rings I know it’s later than it should be. It’s a warning to tell me I have half hour to shift my arse.”  
“Is he mad?”  
“No he’s fine. Said you could have the day off.”  
“Well you didn’t tell me that did you.”  
“I thought I’d watch you sweat a bit.”

Fee was pulling on Harrys jeans. He picked her up and looked at her. “Shall we go to the zoo Fee, do you think Auntie Nikki would want to come too?” Nikki nodded.  
On the drive to the zoo Nikki couldn’t stop smiling. They had decided to pick up a few bits from the supermarket to take on a picnic with them. All the way round Tesco’s she could see how domestic they looked. Harry pushing the trolley around with Fee in the kids seat whilst Nikki took things off the shelf for Harry until it was something too high on the shelf and he’d get it, stretching up and revealing the top of his boxer shorts as his shirt lifted high.

They sat on the picnic green and Fee played on the rug they had laid out. “Thank you for today.” Harry said watching Nikki eat her sandwich.  
“I didn’t do anything.”  
“You came with us, Fee needs a little bit interaction other than her aging father.”  
“Harry you’re not old and withering.”  
“I am not far of a prune.”  
“Or a raisin” Nikki smiled.

Fee had decided that she wanted her dad’s sandwich and was sticking her finger in it making mess again. Harry grabbed her and he lay down holding her above him.  
“Now what mess can you make up there?” he asked as he moved Fee up and down in the air. Fee was laughing herself silly. The baby laugh went straight to Nikki’s soul.  
They got back to Harry’s about 7 that evening and had picked up a Chinese on the way. Harry put Fee to bed, having fallen asleep in the car. Nikki dished up and sat on the sofa with a plate on Harrys seat. He came down and moved it as he took his seat and put the plate on his lap. He rests his head on the back of the sofa.   
“Are you alright?”  
“Always tired. Too tired to eat, drink, have fun.”  
“Really” Harry looked down at his plate of food and pushed it away. “Harry you have to eat something.”  
“I’m fine, just not hungry. Need sleep.”  
“Harrrryyyy.”  
“Nikki I just don’t have the energy. Look, see withering arm that operates rusty scalpel, can’t even lift my knife or fork.” Harry moved his arm so far up and then down again. “Sorry I’m no fun Nikki, you should go home, go out with the girls.”  
“Harry you’ll waste away.”  
“I think you’re overreacting a bit.” Harry smirked then shut his eyes. Soon he feels something warm against his lips pushing them open. Harry can feel the warmth and then the taste the soy and the pork. He opened his eyes to see Nikki with an empty fork in her hand, his plate of food now on her lap, her empty plate having been disposed of on the floor.  
“If you are going to act like your year old daughter I will treat you like the child you are.” Nikki then prodded another dumpling onto the fork and pushed it towards Harrys mouth. He hadn’t even finished chewing the first one before the other one was placed in his mouth, this time she held his chin up slightly with one hand and the other had taken a napkin and mopped up some sauce that dribbled down the side of his mouth. He felt that he should be protesting and telling her to stop but he was perhaps enjoying himself a little too much as Nikki touched him, they were face to face as he ate. He was breathing in the same air as she was. Harry had been fed most of his supper before he moved his hand over his mouth to indicate that he really had had enough to eat. He sighed as he held Nikki’s hand which had been feeding him.“I’m all done now mum” Harry said looking at her eye to eye.   
It was too much for her and she leant in and touched his lips with hers. Soon they were in a passionate embrace as they kissed passionately. The plate and cutlery fell to the floor as Harry grabbed Nikki and placed her on his lap to get in closer to her. Soon Nikki was straddling him and could feel that despite earlier admissions, he clearly wasn’t as tired as he made out to be as she ran her fingers around his crotch. Things were progressing but then they could hear moving on the baby monitor then crying. Harry corrected himself and excused himself as he went to see Fee. Nikki followed him up the stairs. Harry picked up Fee and held her on his shoulder so she could see Nikki. Nikki started to pull faces at Fee and the babe laughed. Harry looked over his shoulder “Whatever you’re doing keep doing it.” Harry asked. Nikki walked so she was right behind him and the baby. Harry could feel her breath on his neck.   
“Now Fee if I stay here and play for a bit will you go back to sleep so your dad and I can finish what we started.” Nikki then poked her tongue out, twitched her nose and blinked her eyes. Fee laughed and so did Harry. After an hour of play Fee was fast asleep and placed in the cot. Harry bent over the sides staring at her making sure she really was asleep. He felt a pair of hands wrap round his waist and a hand dipped under the waistband of his jeans as Nikki grabbed him and held him tight. He turned round and kissed her passionately. They moved to his bedroom and soon they were undressing each other, they then hear Fee crying again. Frustrated Harry told Nikki to stay where she was and he fetched Fee from her cot.

“It’s my fault” he said as he climbed into bed, just wearing his boxers, he motioned Nikki to get in the other side of the bed. She got in and watched Harry rest Fee between them. “I got into a habit of falling asleep with her on the bed. She’s got used to sleeping in the bed, more than her own her cot.” Nikki smiled as Fee looked at both of them “Not used to two people in the bed is she.”   
“No neither am I.”  
“What two people in bed with you.” Nikki laughed.  
“One is enough if and when it happens” Harry replies.   
“I’ll take the sofa tonight. I think though we need to work on reclaiming the double bed for ourselves.” Nikki winks and sways away from the room.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  
Nikki woke up and remembered where she was. She went to check on Harry and Fee. She let Harry sleep a bit longer. She looked at the clock, it was 6 a.m. She knew she had to be at work by nine but Harry was snoring and Fee seemed to be awake and in a good mood.

It was 8 in the morning when Harry stirred by which time Nikki was downstairs feeding Fee some porridge. Harry laughed as he walked to his two girls. Nikki’s hair was a mess, her blonde curls a new toy for Fee and was matted with dried in porridge.  
“Very sexy.” Harry said as he placed a kiss on top of her head.   
“Mmm I’ll get you back don’t you worry” Nikki swore. “I have to go back to work….what you two gonna do today?”  
“I might take her shopping, even at her age she seems to enjoy it. I swear she puts on an extra inch every week. “  
“They grow fast at this age.”  
“Mmm. “  
“You alright?”  
“I was thinking about last night…..I’m learning to be a dad.”  
“You don’t want me” Nikki glared  
“No, yes I want you, more than anything, just not sure about the timing.”  
“Harry we waited so long.”  
“Yes, maybe but have you thought about this, I’m not Harry you work and play with anymore, I’m Harry a single dad.”  
“Harry I accept that you and Fee are a package.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Harry come here”, she shifted Fee to her side and leant over so Harry could kiss her. “Now I have to go to work, you enjoy your day whatever you do, can I come to dinner tonight.”  
“If you’re volunteering to cook, yes.”  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  
Harry went to see his mum and was relieved to be able to talk to someone. She said that the two of them belong together and yes Fee was now a new dimension but the two of them never did comply to convention. She asked if he would like her to have Fee for the night so he could take Nikki out and have some alone time. Harry agreed. He popped back to the house to pick up a few bits then back to his mums.

It was 7 when there was a ring at the door. Harry answered it and invited Nikki in. Nikki looked around and sniffed the air.  
“Sorry I had no idea I smelt so bad.” Harry joked  
“That baby smell, milk, baby wipes and powder I can’t smell it.”  
“No. Fees at mums, she’s babysitting.”  
“So we have the house to ourselves.”  
“You could say that.”  
“Plenty of time to talk, we need to talk.”  
“Mmm yes lots of talking” Harry smiled pulling Nikki into his chest.  
Nikki and Harry were in an embrace, their mouths colliding. They were mumbling each other’s names until they rested on the sofa and a loud squeak came from behind them and Nikki retrieved a stuffed toy from behind her.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….........  
Harry never used the term Aunt Nikki again. It didn’t seem right anymore. In bad moments when they would have a massive argument Nikki would use the fact that Fee wasn’t hers to hurt him. They always seemed to resolve the worst of their bad moments. Nikki would often tell friends that the makeup sex was amazing.  
On Fees second birthday Harry and Nikki are stood in the kitchen of their new place enjoying a sneaky kiss.   
“I got you a present too.” Nikki says pulling out a wrapped package from the top draw of the dresser.  
“Really, is it something like what you bought the other day?” Harry winked.  
“Open it and see.”  
“I was expecting something lacy or see through, this isn’t even the right size for Fee.”  
“I know that, it’s for a new born.”  
“And why have you given it to me today………..”  
Nikki dragged him into her chest and then looked him straight in the eyes waiting for the cogs in Harrys head to go into overtime.  
“Oh my god, we’re having a baby.” Harry yelled.  
“Shh I was just telling you not the whole world.”  
“How far are you?”  
“I went for my first scan yesterday” she pulls out a sonogram from her jeans pocket. “I didn’t tell you because I just wanted to know it was real.”  
“This is perfect.”  
“Harry are you happy?” they embrace and kiss further, deeper until Harry pulls away.  
“You’re not the only one who has a secret”  
“Are you pregnant too Harry?” Nikki giggles.  
“No I’ll leave that to you, I on the other hand did a little shopping for you.” He pulls out something from his pocket and then gets on his knees “Nikki Alexander the doctor who has my heart, the mother to my two children will you marry me?” Nikki smiles and pulls him up and kisses him nodding her head. “I would love it if you were my dried fruit salesman”. 

The end


End file.
